Shattered Perceptions
by Jaded Naruko
Summary: During the trip to wave, Naruto is poisoned by the Demon Brothers tries to hide it when feeling that no one will care anyways. Backup arrives though during the battle with Zabuza and between the reactions during the encounter and the arrivals helping the blonde, all masks and perceptions will be shattered.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:**

During the trip to wave, Naruto is poisoned by the Demon Brothers tries to hide it when feeling that no one will care anyways. Backup arrives though during the battle with Zabuza and between the reactions during the encounter and the arrivals helping the blonde, all masks and perceptions will be shattered.

**Some Quick Notes:**

Some small notes concerning this story and it's future. While I don't like some characters a lot, I don't really hate them a lot either. So when I use a little bashing, it is more or less for the sake of the stories plot and not for the hell of it. Actually, most of the stories that I am planning does not have any bashing at all, though some such as this one will contain some mild bashing in places. There is only one story that I am planning that will have major character bashing as it will be a comedy.

Also, this is a work of fanfiction and I'm not making any money from this, so please don't sue me. That being said, please understand that this is a fanfiction and that means it is not the original story. So please understand that this will be an alternate universe, time-line and canon and the characters will not all be carbon copies of the canon. There will be my own characters running around maybe as well as there being some characters acting differently.

Most of my Naruto stories, though not all, will have a modified Academy graduation date. The graduates will be 15 years of age with Naruto being 16 because of failing it the previous year. This will be one of those stories.

And finally, I will do my best to answer all reviews and questions, but there will be times that I may miss one or may be too busy to get to all of them. I will do my best to update my stories as often as possible.

**Warnings: **

There will be some darker subject matter and some violence, this is based off Naruto and a village who treats a child the way they do is pretty dark by nature.

**Disclaimer:**

I said it once and I'll say it again, I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me.

**Thanks:**

Thank you Morgan27 for the pics to use for covers and my avatar.

**Cue Story!**

Naruto normally wasn't one to brood, in fact it was the thing that he, or rather she hated so much about the Uchiha. While the last of the Uchiha was free to do anything he wanted and was looked at as a prince, the blonde was forced to hide everything she was while taking the shit from everyone around her. She was expected to keep her hair cut short and spiky (not that she did thanks to her own bloodline limit that let her take care of that) and wear the horrendous orange jumpsuits that was specially crafted to hide her gender from the different dōjutsus around the village as well as the enhanced senses of clans like the Inuzuka. Yeah she understood why, she wasn't stupid after all and didn't need the old man spelling it out to her. In otherwords, the little bastard had everythin handed to him on a silver platter while she herself was constantly abused by those same villagers. And yet the Uchiha was always brooding taking everything for granted while the blonde cherished every little good thing in her life and tried to maintain a cheery outlook.

The last month was severally testing her limits though as things for the team moved from annoying to feeling like she was in hell. At first the so called d-ranks was shared equally in the group, all three of them having to pitch in on the work. Then after a few months, more and more of the work was being pushed off on Naruto while Kakashi pulled Sasuke off to the side to train him while eventually letting Sakura slack off to watch. When Naruto mentioned it or asked for some training herself, Kakashi had sneered at her and told her she wasn't ready for it and was ordered to get back to work or the blonde would be wrote up on insubordination charges. To add salt to those wounds, the bastard had claimed Sasuke did most of the work and awarded him all of any of the bonuses that was paid out when it was supposed to be split between the team.

Now the blonde was very close to brooding as Kakashi kept assuring the client Tanzuna that everything would be fine, the last Uchiha was there and if he wasn't enough Kakashi would step in as he was an elite jōnin. Yet when the stopped off at Shukuba Town the previous night because of Sakura's screeching, Naruto had to sit up in the room with the client watching him with the others spent time in the hotsprings. And when the finally came back and Naruto just wanted to go clean up a bit Kakashi had informed her that he would be reporting that she had abandoned her post during the mission. In a way she supposed it was a good thing that she didn't as it was always a possibility that someone could have found out her true gender, and she didn't trust anyone on her team with that information. Not even her own sensei.

They were getting close to the border now and yet she noticed Sakura and Sasuke was relaxing more and more while Tanzuna was tensing up as if expecting something. Looking back at her so called sensei, she saw he had his nose stuck in his disgusting book as usual showing no signs of paying attention to his surroundings though she knew better. Say what you wanted about the lazy bastard, he was a feared ninja with a title he earned through his strength. No matter though, the other two lowering their guard wasn't something she was happy about as it was something basic taught in the academy: never drop your guard in enemy territory. As far as they were concerned, every inch between Konoha and Wave was enemy teritory with potenial enemies all over. Seeing a puddle on the ground up ahead she cursed drawing a couple kunai tensing for action as the pink haired girl just made a derisive snort.

"Seriously, are you stupid?" Naruto hissed, "It hasn't rained here for over a week!"

"Don't call me stupid!" Sakura screeched getting ready to abandon her position to attack Naruto when two men sprang up from out of nowhere as the puddle vanished. The three genin were horrified as well as the bridge builder as the new men wrapped chains aound the jonin and shredded him to pieces. Nauto should have known not to count on her surviving teammates to help, the two spoiled brats never facing a life threatening situation while her entire life had been life threatening. Throwing her kunai she embedded it through a link in the chain against a tree, a moment later throwing a second one to join it and forcing the two ninja to seperate from the chain to attack seperately.

"Damn it, wake up and protect the client!" Naruto shouted as she engaged one of the ninja, blocking the clawed gauntlet with another hunai, holding it reversed grip and struggling to hold the man back. It was useless as he was much bigger and physically stronger, but he wasn;t expecting her free hand to swipe out at his neck with a throwing star held tightly in her hand cutting his throat as he stunbled back gugling up blood.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Sakura shriekedd making Naruto look back to see Sasuke stumbling back to his feet as the second ninja was rushing at the pink haired girl. With a burst of speed, Naruto rushed to shield Sakura and knocked the claw away, though not before one of the blades making a small slash in the side of the blonde's jumpsuit and cutting into her flesh making her wince in pain. Thankfully she didn't have to do anything else as Kakashi proved that he was a jonin as he finished the last ninja off.

"The demon brothers, chūnin ranked missing nin from Kirigakure. They used poisoned weapons, did any of you get cut by their blades?" Kakashi asked with worry looking between Sakura and Sasuke, who were looking at himm with wide eyes. Naruto looked over to where the older ninja's remains should have been to find shredded up wood from a log which meant the asshole used a substitution and let her handle the missing nin.

"I'm fine." Sasuke huffed as he brushed his clothes off.

"I'm fine thanks to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed as she gloped his arm making his yank it away and send the girl a glare that caused her to back away bowing her head.

"I got a cut from that second one." Naruto said, but Kakashi was already moving toward Gatō. "Good, since you guys are okay, would you like to explain why missing ninja were after you Tazune?"

Naruto held back a growl of anger as heat spread out through her body from where the claw cut into her. As far as they knew, the poison could kill her and no one even gave a damn? Not even her sensei whp was suppose dto be there to teach and protect her! Thankfully she was sure the Kyūbi would take care of the poison, but there was a huge problem with that. If it was a mild poison or one that she had been victim to before, then it would take anywhere to a few minutes to an hour to nuetralize it. If it was a very strong one, or one she never came in contact with before, then it could take all night to work it out of her system. If it was the later and someone else came, she could be slowed down from the pain and they could...kill...

"Oh god..." Naruto moaned out as she rushed to the bushed and threw up in them shaking. She had killed that man! Of course he was trying to kill her, but she took his life. She ended someone elses life!

"I swear your pathetic." Kakashi growled out pulling her short hair and yanking her away from where she was bent over and shoved her towards Tansuna. "I sent a request for back up and we're leaving. By the time we get to Nami, they should catch up to us since they won't have to go at a civillians pace."

Naruto barely heard a lot of what he said as her head swam with worries and fears of what she just did added to the poison making her feel hot, sweat beginning to drip down her forehead. Tanzuna gave her a worried look and asked, "You look like shit, are you okay kid?"

"Not really." Naruto grumbled.

"The little brat is fine, he's just lazy." Kakashi scoffed as he glared at the blonde as Tanzuna gave the older ninja a disgusted look but walked ahead as they surrounded him. He figured that if they get home soon then maybe Tsunami could take care of the boy.

SHATTTERED

It was a shock when Naruto realized Sakura had saved her life when the pink haired girl pulled her to the ground just before a giant sword flew by just where her neck was moments ago. As Kakashi moved off to face against another missing nin named Zabuza on the water as the three genin surrounded their client to try and protect him, but Naruto was having trouble taking a deep breath as she was coated in sweat. It felt as if her chest bindings were going to smother her, but without them her true gender would be easy to guess even through the extremely baggy jumpsuit..

"Are you going to be okay, Naruto?" Sakura asked while Sasuke only snorted.

"What do you care?" Naruto bit out. She didn't have the strength to try and be nice at the moment. She didn't care, the poison was wrecking havoc on her body and the funny thing was that it could have been lessened by a lot if that bastard Kakashi would have taken a few minutes to help her. She knew he had an emergency kit, all senseis were required to carry them for cases like this. Naruto had tried to buy a kit before leaving just in case, but the shop had thrown her out.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled as both teams eight and ten surrounded them as Asuma went to back up Kakashi.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Kurenai asked noticing the way the blonde was having trouble breathing.

"Poisoned by the demon brothers." Naruto panted as she turned to glare at Kurenai before falling down to one knee as a wave of dizziness hit her hard.

"What? Why the hell didn't Kakashi give you the antidote to their poison? If it's normal Kiri poison, then it's should be in his first aid kit!" Kurenai asked with anger and worry in her voice as the other tightened the circle around them as the woman reached out to Naruto's jumpsuit to unzip it and get a better look at the injury.

"Don't touch me! Kakashi didn't want to help, why the hell should I trust you?" Naruto demanded. She had seen this woman before, a woman who never lifted a finger to defend the blonde when stores threw her out. "Why the hell would you want to help me now when you never did before?"

"Naruto, if you don't get help soon, you could die." Kurenai sighed as she grabbed the front of the jacket. Something just didn't feel right when she did though, there was just something off about how it felt.

"Fuzz butt will heal it, just...sick...awhile." Naruto groaned out before collapsing to the ground.

"Everyone, keep an eye out! Hinata, use your byakugan to watch for attacks. Sakura, help me out." Kurenai barked out, unzipping the front of the jumpsuit to see a black undershirt on a frame too lithe to be a male's body. In fact, even with the bindings peaking out from spots on the shirt, Kurenai could tell that there were mounds that just didn't belong on a boy.

"What the hell? Naruto is a girl?" Sakura gasped out making several people whip heads around to look at what they were talking about.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru mumbled.

"YES! I'M NOT GAY!" Kiba shouted out causing several people to give him funny looks.

"N-N-Naruto-k-kun i-is a g-g-girl?" Hinata squeaked out, her face turning red as she now understood why the blonde didn't return her advances. Not that she was overly obvious about said advances as she usually chose to keep her distance and watch trying to get the courage just to come out and tell the boy she liked him, only to find out he was a she.

"I knew there was something weird about the way he acted." Ino mumbled, but not in a deragatroy way. She kind of thought Naruto was gay as she could see the way the blonde looked at Shikamaru at times while having to hold back a laugh. Now wasn't the time for that as she realized the smartest, yet laziest boy of their class never noticed the looks the blonde gave him. Then again, that did leave the question as to why Naruto would constantly ask Sakura out. Guess the answers to that would have to wait for now.

**That's it for now, don't forget to review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary:**

During the trip to wave, Naruto is poisoned by the Demon Brothers tries to hide it when feeling that no one will care anyways. Backup arrives though during the battle with Zabuza and between the reactions during the encounter and the arrivals helping the blonde, all masks and perceptions will be shattered.

**Reviews:**

Cool & blah: Thank you guys, hope you liked the new chapter.

Guest: Hope you liked the new chapter. I will be working on a max of 2 stories at a time, one for when I want to be serious and another when I'm in a playful mood and want to work on something with a lot of humor to it. The serious story will always be my main priority, such as this one, but sometimes I just want to work on something funny or need to work out a block or something.

**Warnings: **

There will be some darker subject matter and some violence, this is based off Naruto and a village who treats a child the way they do is pretty dark by nature. This chapter, and the next few will become a lot more angsty for a bit as Naruto deals with some things, but it will get better.

**Disclaimer:**

I said it once and I'll say it again, I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me.

**Cue Story!**

The battle with Zabuza had been difficult, and for a moment Kakashi had been worried that he might not be able to win. Thankfully Asuma showed up in time to prevent the missing nin's use of Suirō no Jutsu, the Water Prison Jutsu. Together they had defeated the powerful mist shinobi and would have finished him off if the fake hunter nin didn't rescue him. Sadly they didn't realize the boy was a fake until he went to pick up Zabuza instead of cutting the man's head off and before they could stop him, the hunter was long gone.

"Damn Kakashi, you get in the most messed up situations." Asuma sighed as he sheathed his trench knives and pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"Tell me about it, it seems these Mist missing nin are coming out of the woodwork." Kakashi sighed, shoulders slumping a little. While he avoided chakra exhaustion thanks to Asuma, he was still dead tired.

"Come on, sooner we get there the sooner we can rest and decide what our plans are." Asuma said as he started towards where the group was huddled around someone. A slight sneer graced Kakashi's lips as he saw a glimpse of orange through the crowd of Genin which meant the damned demon brat must be toying with them. Why the old fool gave Kakashi that filth, he would never know.

"You bastard." Kurenai hissed, letting the blonde haired brat's head rest in her lap, the orange jumpsuit unzipped showing a black undershirt, bandages on the ground letting him see the two soft mounds under the black top as well as a generous amount of cleavage.

"Look underneath the underneath." Hiruzen's words echoed in his head as he couldn't tear his eyes off the pair of breasts that adorned his students chest. A pair of breasts that didn't belong to a boy which meant the fox was messing with them even more, or Kakashi had royally fucked up.

"Wh-what's going on?" Kakashi asked, swallowing the lump forming in his throat.

"Your student almost died from the poison from the demon brothers. A poison you should have already treated!" Kurenai snapped hatefully at the man. It was true that the antidote was too weak to completely counteract the powerful poison that was used, but it did seem to help enough that the blonde's own healing ability kicked in finally starting to visibly heal the wound that was the poison's entry point.

"That's impossible, the demon can't die from poison." Kakashi scoffed, though he had a bad feeling that he may be wrong about that. Wrong about a lot. He despised the blonde as he knew his sensei was expecting a daughter, and Naruto was supposedly a boy. That could only mean that the council was right and the demon was trapped in a weak human form that needed to be shown its place and controlled. He knew Kushina had said more than once that the fox was male, so it was a given that a human form would be as well. Only, the blonde genin in front of him was clearly not male which...could mean...

"You blind fool! For someone with such a dōjutsu, you can't see what's right in front of you." Kurenai hissed. Looking around Kakashi noticed the disappointed and angry looks on all of the other genin as well as Tazuna.

"Is he...she going to be okay?" Kakashi asked softly, afraid of the answer. He loved Minato and Kushina like parents, and if he knew the truth, he would have loved the girl like a sister. Instead he let the council sway his opinion and his grief to blind him.

"No thanks to you, bastard." Kurenai hissed as she glared up as Kakashi.

"Sakura..." Kakashi started before the pink haired girl cut him off, her voice filled with shock and pain.

"Don't talk to me." Sakura sniffed as she backed away from him.

"Troublesome..."Shikamaru mumbled shaking his head at seeing the interaction between student and teacher.

"You better hope Naruto is okay, or I swear I'll shatter your mind." Ino spat angrily.

"Asuma, can you carry her? We can't stay around here in case we get attacked again." Kurenai sighed.

"My house isn't far from here." Tanzuna said as he gave the cycloptic jonin an icy glare.

SHATTERED

"You would have died you know." the muscular redhaired man said as he stood behind Naruto massaging her shoulders. She already knew the hunk of a man was right, she knew that despite the fox sealed in her the poison came close to ending her life because of the potent mixture of several kinds of poisons.

"Maybe it would have been better if I did." Naryto sighed leaning back into the man's magical hands with a sigh of pleasure though her eyes showed the dead feeling that was in her heart. No one was ever going to love her, to care for her. Most people thought she was a boy and everyone thought she was worthless. Everyone but this man who called himself Kuruma who always seemed to be there for her, even if it was only in dreams. He didn't love her though, no one ever would.

"Don't say that, any man would be lucky to be with you." Kuruma said, his voice husky against her ear as he leaned down to whisper to her. His warm breath brushing against her sensitive skin sent shivers through her body as his hands pulled her closer to him, hugging her to him, back against his chest.

"No onw would want to be with the demon brat." Naruto sighed as she closed her eyes mmentarily before feeling his lips on her neck, suckling the exposed skin there as his hands started caressing her sides as he hugged her, slowly moving to brush over the black top as one hand drew upward getting a little uncomfortably close to a breat as the other hand..."Hey!"

"Sorry." Kurama chuckled as he backed away holding his hands up in surrender. "I couldn't resist. I love you so muchand I really just want to be with you."

"I'm just not ready for that yet." Naruto sighed hugging herself, feeling guilty about brushig te only man who cared for her off. It was only a dream, a dream she often had and despite how much she wanted it to be real, to have someone who cared for her, she knew it was just a figment of her imagination. If it was though, why could she never let him do that to her? A part of her wanted to experience what it would be like to e loved, both emotionally and physically since she knew it would never happen in the real world. And yet, there was a small part of the man that gave her the creeps while at the same time creating an intense need in her.

"Looks like your waking up, so see you later." Kurama said, grining cheesily. He reminded her of the cat in that ancient book she found in some ruins under Konoha. Alice in Wonderlad, this man seemingly to have some of the same traits of the cat while at the same time beng so much more. She didn't hear him grumble, "Soon you will be mine, mind body and soul and I'll be free of this wretched prison. I can't wait to feast on your heart."

SHATTERED

"Owwww, my head." Naruto grumbled as she slowly sat up, the light streaming in from the windowin her eyes as she squinnted. Sakura was curled up in the corner of the room, seemingly asleep and Ino was at her bedside.

"I'm glad your awake." Ino said drawing the blonde's attention to the foot of the bed she was in to find Ino sitting on the edge of the matress.

"I'm sure you are." Naruto scoffed as she glared at her fellow blonde, realizing her voice sounded more feminine than it should. Reaching up she felt for the collar on her jumpsuit, though she could already feel it wasn't closed around her neck activating the seals in it that helped change her voice to help her mask as a boy.

"I am, Naruto, we were all worried about you." Ino said softly as she reached down and gently squeezed Naruto's ankle throug the blanket covering her. "I can't believe your sensei..."

"My sensei what?" Naruto growled angrily.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you were a girl?" Sakura asked startling the blondes to look up at the pink haired girl standing there with a hurt expression on her face as she fidgeting, waiting for an answr.

"why should I, I don't trust you, Sasuke or Kakashi. The old man told me to keep my gender a secet unless I absoulutely trusted someone." Naruto sighed.

"I'm sorry, I have to know, are you bi..or something?" Ino blurted out, the tension draining away as the question made Naruto laugh.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked looking at Ino as if the taller girl was crazy.

"You were always asking me out for a date." Sakura said as she crossed her arms making Naruto sputter in indignation.

"Are you stupid?" Naruto asked making the pink haired girl brisstle. "When did I ever ask you for a date? I asked you if you wanted to hang out. I thought you were pretty and smart and...I...I wanted to be like you."

"You admired me/ her?" Two voices asked in shock at the same time.

"I did." Naruto said, her voice turning cold as she narowed her eyes at the girl remembering a young Sakura asked if she wanted to be friends only to come back the next day to ignore her. "You make me sick anymore, you all do. Every single one of you preach about the will of fire, never abandoning a comrade...yet every single one of you turned your back on me."

"That's not true." Ino and Sakura oncce again cried out, echoing each other as the door opened to let Tsunami and Kurenai into the room.

"Ino, Sakura, go meet Asuma, it's your shift for training." Kurenai said, the angry look on the woman's face cowing any argument from the two girls who sheepishly ducked out of the room as Tsunami walked over to the bed Naruto was on and sat on the edge next to the blonde.

"How are you feeling?" Tsunami asked as she leaned in and brushed some hair from Naruto's forehead before feeling to see if she still had a fever.

"You sure you want to be touching the demon?" Naruto asked, staring deep in the woman's eues that looked back in cofusion and worry for the young girl's well being.

"Didn't anyone tell you? I'm the..." Naruto started to say, but Kurenai cut her off.

"Naruto, that is a village secret." Kurenai said in a stern tone of voice.

"Does it look like I care? When has it ever stopped any of those damned villagers from telling everyone I was a monster and beating me?" Naruto scoffed, "Might as well tell the lady that I'm the Kyubi after all. Isn't that right Kurenai? I'm just apathetic demon not worth helping?"

"Stop that!" Tsunami snapped as her eyes filled with tears. "You aren't a demon, your a young woman and don't deserve to be treated badly. Konoha should be ashamed of itself for treating a young jinchūriki like that. You are a hero young lady, not a monster."

"Sadly, not many see it like that." Kurenai sighed, "How do you know about jinchūriki anyways?"

"Please, this may not be a ninja village, but we aren't stupid. Compared to Konaha if this is how they treat their heroes we're pretty smart if you ask me." Tsunami scoffed. "Now, young lady, you haven't answered my question. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Naruto said, a little shocked as she looked up to the woman who was acting so kind to her. She had to keep reminding herself how that always turned out, but then again the woman wasn't one of Konaha's hateful citizens so just maybe this wouldn't turn out to be a trap to hurt her.

"Naruto, you almost died, fox or not that poison was preventing you from healing until I gave you the antidote that helped counteract the poison enough for the fox to finish it off." Kurenai said, the look on her face showed that she didn't believe the blonde, but naruto just couldn't find herself to care what the woman thought as she clamped down on her emotions before she would sstart shaking. She always believed that she couldn't be killed, tortured yes, but the fox always healed her.

"I said I'm fine." Naruto said clenching her teeth.

"Good, because I need an escort into town." Tsunami said smiling.

"I'll assign my team to escort you." Kurenai said but was silenced by the angry look the civillian sent her way.

"That won't be neccessary." Tsunami said, "I'd rather have someone I can trust with me."

"You trust me?" Naruto asked in surprise as she looked up at the woman, eyes wide as she saw the sincerity in the woman's expression. There was no malicious intent hiding in her eyes, something that Naruto had become an expert at looking for.

"Of course, I may have just met you, but someone who hid their pain to help my father get home as well as have the strength of will to hold back such a fearsome creature as the Kyubi has to be a stong persson. A person I feel I can trust with my safety and life." Tsunami said earning the first real smile from the blonde since graduating the academy thanks to Mizuki's betrayal.

**That's it for now, don't forget to review!**


End file.
